Photo shows 38 warships and 4 submarines during RIMPAC 2014’s group sail

July 28, 2014 Aircraft Carriers, Maritime Security
David Cenciotti

An impressive naval armada was arranged for RIMPAC 2014 photo.

It does not happen too soon to see +40 warships sailing together.

The reason is quite obvious: first, there are some navies that are made by little more (if not less) than 40 serviceable surface ships. Second, even though it would not be that easy to come too close to the naval formation (considered that the flagship is a U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier), this *could be* an huge target for air, naval and underwater assets involved in maritime attack/anti-ship missions.

Nevertheless, the sight is quite impressive and, alone, it can represent a good deterrent.

The photo was actually taken during RIMPAC 2014, the 24th exercise in the series of world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise taking place in the Pacific Ocean from Jun. 26 to Aug. 1.

Twenty-two nations are taking part to this year’s edition of the drills that marks the first particpation of China with four ships belonging to the People’s Liberation Army Navy.

RIMPAC 2014 reportedly involve 55 vessels, more than 200 aircraft, and some 25,000 personnel.

Image credit: U.S. Navy

 

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David Cenciotti is a journalist based in Rome, Italy. He is the Founder and Editor of “The Aviationist”, one of the world’s most famous and read military aviation blogs. Since 1996, he has written for major worldwide magazines, including Air Forces Monthly, Combat Aircraft, and many others, covering aviation, defense, war, industry, intelligence, crime and cyberwar. He has reported from the U.S., Europe, Australia and Syria, and flown several combat planes with different air forces. He is a former 2nd Lt. of the Italian Air Force, a private pilot and a graduate in Computer Engineering. He has written five books and contributed to many more ones.

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7 Comments

  1. Why are they letting the Chinese play when every navy in the Pacific is looking at the Chinese Navy as a foe?

    • It is probably better to try keeping them close (although not as allies or friends) than considering them enemies (thus strengthening their relations with Russia )

    • “Keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer.” This adage is pretty apt for these circumstances. The PLAN has a lot of older, diesel-electric type submarines, which remain the biggest thorn in the side of any modern navy. Whenever NATO conducts war games in the North Atlantic – even despite the scripts – the diesel-electric submarines generally manage to knock out a carrier or severely damage one. If we were to go into a shooting war with China (which I’ll admit is unlikely) these diesel-electric submarines will be the biggest threat to our surface fleet.

    • They let the Chinese in for exactly that reason, so they can get a good idea of their capabilities. Also it looks good for PR.

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